“Google+ is just an upgrade to Google,” says [Vic] Gundotra. “People have a hard time understanding that. I think they like to compare us with other social competitors, and they see us through that lens instead of really seeing what’s happening: Google is taking its amazing products, and by bringing them together, they just become more awesome.”

Then why is it on feature parity with Facebook? If it’s just an update to Google’s other services, why is it its own service?